Flooded Abary creates discomfort for farmers
Jul 03, 2017 , http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....comfort-for-farmers/
The water level in the Abary River is causing farmers some discomfort as they continue to lose crops and livestock.
About two weeks ago the Abary River became swollen. Then the water receded after a few days. However, that was only for a brief period. The water level rose again, and fear has begun to grip farmers.
Flood waters have resulted in losses for crop farmers, and the cattle farmers are very uneasy as well. They are hoping for intervention by the relevant authorities in whatever way possible so that disaster may be averted.
Last Friday, rice farmers could have been seen pumping water from various fields, with the water level in the drainage canal being higher than in the fields.
One rice farmer related having lost a significant portion of his crop that was 35 days old. On the right bank of the Abary, farmers also continue to lose bananas and plantains.
Another farmer who is involved in aquaculture claimed that he would have had over 4,000 hassar in his pond when the flood came. He has no way of knowing how many have migrated.
On the left bank of the river, cattle farmers are quite concerned. With much of the pastures being flooded for over two weeks, there are implications for the farmers. Their losses can be great. The animals have been moved to higher ground, and many of the younger ones have already been lost.
While the water level did drop, the farmers have become quite concerned that the water will rise again because of a blockage which formed sometime between last Wednesday and Thursday in the Abary River.
According to the farmers, this blockage was caused by thick vegetation torn from the shoreline during high winds last week, with the water pushing the vegetation into a firm mass across the river, stretching for about four hundred metres or even more.
Unless removed, the mass of vegetation across the river will cause the water level to rise, thereby threatening the higher ground where the farmers have herded their cattle.
Farmers are hoping that the relevant authorities intervene in a timely manner thereby averting a major disaster. They feel that the authorities need to get machinery onto a pontoon to remove the thick vegetation that is restricting the flow of the Abary at the moment.
